I mentioned this briefly in one of my recent weekly reports, but I’ve been on a bit of a non-toxic/clean living and eating journey! I say journey because that’s truly what I feel like this is. I’m determined to make it a real lifestyle change for the betterment of myself, my husband, and our future family, and to be honest, in just a couple of weeks, I’ve already noticed some benefits!
I’m someone who has suffered from chronic congestion and extremely sensitive skin my entire life. I actually went to an ENT about a year ago to get scans and talk about a possible procedure to relieve my congestion, and they told me that my nose is extremely inflamed internally and that I’d just have to take Zyrtec-D and use Flonase essentially for the rest of my life. That conversation left me pretty discouraged. That was it!? Taking medication for the rest of my life just wasn’t a good enough answer for me. But after that meeting, I didn’t really do anything about it. I just started taking the Zyrtec as I was told, and, as you would expect, it worked. It also helped relieve my itchy and sensitive skin. The problem with it all, though, is that it was just a bandaid for the problem. It wasn’t actually fixing the problem. When we were on our honeymoon in June, I forgot to bring my Zyrtec with me, and I was a wreck. I couldn’t breathe out of my nose and I was so itchy. I could not stop itching my skin. When we got back, I started taking my Zyrtec again, and it went away.
Two weeks ago, after I listened to this podcast, I felt motivated to dig deeper and try and actually remove things from my life that could be causing these reactions in my body. So, I stopped taking the Zyrtec and also started swapping products in my home and some of the things I have been eating. At first, it was miserable, and my symptoms got worse. But, in the last week, they’ve been getting a lot better! I haven’t taken Zyrtec since, and I feel like I can breathe through my nose better (not perfectly), and my skin isn’t itching! It feels like a mini miracle, and if anything has just made me more interested and passionate about this “journey” I’m on.
I feel like it’s important to note that I was raised in a Clorox/Tide/Windex household, so this has all been really new territory for me! I have very high expectations for my cleaning products, so I was extremely skeptical about pretty much all non-toxic lternatives. Some of my friends (one of them is an IG friend) have been guiding me through it all with product recommendations along the way, too, so everything I’m sharing has been vetted by myself and also them!
Once you really start going down this rabbit hole, too, it can be very overwhelming. I’ve realized, for me at least, it’s about researching products and choosing what works best FOR ME. In some cases, there are certain things that are “good enough” or “better” than what I was using before, and I’m going with it. It’s about progress not perfection. I plan to continue learning and educating myself so I can always make the most informed decision for me and my family. The reality is that there are toxins everywhere around us, so it’s impossible to avoid them all completely anyway, but I’m doing what’s in my control to make better choices for the environment I spend the most time in—my home.
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Laundry
I’ve been loyal to Tide and Downy Fabric Softener and Dryer Sheets my entire life, so trying something new was scary to me. While I know most people say it’s best to have absolutely no fragrance at all since fragrance/scent can be so irritating, there’s something about “smelling clean” that just does it for me. I need something to smell nice for it to actually feel clean to me. Both of my friends recommended the Molly’s Suds Detergent and I really like it. I got the Citrus scent and it smells so fresh and lovely, but I’m not seeing it show up on Amazon for some reason now. I’ve heard the Peppermint scent is great as well! I also ditched my fabric softener. Molly’s Suds does make a fabric softener, which I may try at some point, but for now, I’m doing just fine without it. Instead of dryer sheets, I’ve been using these Wool Dryer Balls. I like that they come with white and black for different colored loads.
Kitchen
There are lots of swaps for me to make in the kitchen, and I’m trying not to overwhelm myself by doing everything at once. My plan is to replace things with clean alternatives as I go through products. One of the things in my kitchen that I did swap out quickly however, is my dishwasher pods. I’ve been loyal to Cascade Platinum forever, but after hearing about how you’re ingesting the chemicals on your plates and the harmful plastics, I knew I needed to use something else. Again per a friend’s recommendation, I decided to try these Dishwasher Tablets from Blueland! They’re plastic free, which is great, but what’s even better is how well they’ve worked for me. They pass the performance test with flying colors and don’t leave spots on my glasses!
Household Cleaning
Koala Eco is a new to me brand that I have quickly fallen in love with. The first product I tried from them was their glass cleaner, which I have quickly become obsessed with. Then, when we ran out of soap in our primary bathroom, I ordered their hand soap to try! I love these products so much and plan to add even more products from the brand as I replace things in my home. If you’re looking to make some non-toxic swaps, this Best Seller Collection is an amazing deal and great way to get a bunch of their products at once!
Health
As I mentioned above, I stopped using Zyrtec! At first, this was really difficult for me because my allergy symptoms were out of control, but I knew that the only way I’d know if any of these changes were making a difference was if I “ripped off the bandaid,” so to speak. I wanted to be able to give myself some relief when necessary, though, so I bought Beekeeper’s Naturals Sinus Support. This is an all-natural supplement with histamine support to relieve allergy symptoms. It definitely isn’t a “magic pill” like Zyertec, but it works pretty well at providing relief. In the beginning, I was taking it multiple times a day (per the package’s instructions), but now I’m only taking it when necessary, which is about one dose a day. Sometimes I can skip a day too!
Personal Care
Personal Care is a tough category that I think I will be working to update for a very long time. It’s also constantly evolving as brands adopt better practices. When I started all of this, I was running out of shampoo and conditioner, so that’s where I decided to start! I reached out Roz, which is a non-toxic haircare line I’d been interested in and they were kind enough to send me some products to try out. I LOVE them! I got the Foundation Duo (Shampoo and Conditioner) as well as the Milk and Styling Oil. I almost feel bad saying that these are great non-toxic hair products, because they’re honestly just great hair products in general! Next I want to try the Foundation Mask and the Pre-Wash Oil.
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